Kotetsu Serizawa
Ibaraki, Japan, Earthibid | death_place = | placeofburial = | placeofburial_label = | placeofburial_coordinates = | nickname = | birth_name = | allegiance = Earth Federation | branch = United Nations Cosmo Force | serviceyears= | rank= Lieutenant General (by 2191) Specific rank based on uniform shoulder boards worn in 2191, 2199, and 2202. | servicenumber = | unit = | commands= | battles= | battles_label = | awards= |relations= |laterwork= |portrayedby=Tessho Genda (Japanese) Doug Jackson (English) }} :This article describes Kotetsu Serizawa from ''Space Battleship Yamato 2199 and its sequels. For his counterpart in the original continuity, see Staff Officer.'' General Kotetsu Serizawa is a senior command officer in the United Nations Cosmo Force in the late twenty-second and early twenty-third centuries. He is the highest UNCF officer responsible for triggering the Garmillas-Earth War. Serizawa becomes the chief proponent of the Izumo Plan to save human survivors from the devastation inflicted upon Earth by the war, and later the motivating force behind an illegal conspiracy to reactivate Izumo after its cancellation. Despite his failures and crimes, he holds a position of high military power in the lead-up to the Gatlantis-Earth War. History Early Life Serizawa held the position of UNCF military director as early as 2191, soon after an advance force from the Great Garmillas Empire was detected near Pluto. As a first contact fleet from Earth closed in on the alien ships, Serizawa communicated with mission commander Admiral Juzo Okita and ordered him to immediately open fire. Despite General Serizawa's backing from Central Command, Okita refused the order on the grounds that the aliens' intentions and abilities were not yet known. The general stripped Okita of command and directly instructed Captain Daigo Shima aboard the Murasame to carry out the order. The Garmillan force responded in kind to the unprovoked attack and wiped out much of the fleet. Serizawa lied to the general public by describing the incident as an act of aggression on the part of the aliens, and with survivors under a gag order against revealing the truth, humanity's first contact with another civilization had turned into a state of war ("A World I Once Saw"). With the war becoming increasingly hopeless over the next several years, the leaders of the Earth Federation placed Serizawa in charge of Project Izumo,ibid which would enable a small number of humans to escape the solar system and settle a new homeworld. Construction of an interstellar ship and other preparations were well underway when an unexpected messenger from the planet Iscandar arrived with a promise of new technology and a device to restore Earth's ruined environment. Officially, Serizawa supported the more daring ''Yamato'' Plan that replaced Izumo, but he privately continued to see Izumo as the only realistic chance for survival. He created fake records and maneuvered loyal personnel and materials onto the space battleship ''Yamato'' to act when the time was right[http://ourstarblazers.com/vault/956/ Embers of the Izumo Plan, Ki 8-Type Prototype Airboat, reported in "The Yamato 2199 Secret Files"] (Space Battleship Yamato 2199: Odyssey of the Celestial Ark). 2199 At the beginning of 2199, Serizawa's official position is Far East Sector military bureau director, in command of all United Nations forces in the district and one of the highest ranking individuals in the UNCF command structure.Space Battleship Yamato 2202 Chapter 1 theater brochure, p. 18Official Space Battleship Yamato 2199 website character data Stationed in UNCF headquarters, he frequently works alongside chief civilian executive Heikuro Todo ("Toward a Sea of Stars", "Farewell to the Solar System"). More than a week after the departure of Yamato, Lieutenant Kaoru Niimi privately contacts Serizawa just before the battleship enters interstellar space and moves out of communications range. He authorizes Niimi to proceed with the plan to resurrect Project Izumo ("Farewell to the Solar System"). Niimi and her allies launch a mutiny almost three months later to end the ship's quest to reach Iscandar and begin human relocation to a newly surveyed planet. After the mutiny is put down, a junior security officer reveals that he was placed onto Yamato by Todo out of suspicion that Serizawa and potential Izumo supporters were conspiring to undermine the mission ("A Choice for the Future"). Serizawa is not present to greet Yamato when the ship returns to the solar system and resumes communication with Earth ("Memories of the Blue Planet", Space Battleship Yamato 2199: Odyssey of the Celestial Ark). 2202 By December 2202, General Serizawa begins serving in the post of general headquarters commander.Space Battleship Yamato 2202 Chapter 1 theater brochure, p. 18 During a joint battle between Earth and Garmillan forces against the Gatlantis Empire, he and Todo observe from UNCF headquarters. After the Gatlantean forces unveil an advanced warship that threatens to overwhelm the allied fleet, the general convinces Todo to send in the new Earth battleship Andromeda, armed with two wave motion guns that obliterate the enemy ("[[AD 2202 - Revive, Space Battleship Yamato|AD 2202 - Revive, Space Battleship Yamato]]"). He attends the launch ceremony for four additional state-of-the-art warships several days later--all of them, like Andromeda, equipped with wave motion weapons in clear violation of a treaty signed by Admiral Okita with Queen Starsha Iscandar. Serizawa quickly defends the existence of these ships to Garmillas ambassador Loren Burrel at the ceremony, claiming that Okita did not have the authority to negotiate on behalf of all of Earth[http://ourstarblazers.com/vault/173a/ "Festive Launch Ceremony," Yamato 2202 Newspaper, February 24, 2017] ("Tension – Reach the Embassy on the Moon"). Personality Many of Serizawa's most important actions are driven by an aggressive nature and by a distrust of the unknown. These attitudes underlie his immediate and unprovoked attack on Garmillan vessels during first contact. They also drive his willingness to plot a mutiny in favor of the familiar Project Izumo against the Yamato mission and Queen Starsha's offer of unseen alien technology ("A World I Once Saw", "A Choice for the Future"). Serizawa also desires political power. He is frustrated by the public praise given to Juzo Okita as a hero of the war with Garmillas, despite his own leadership and effort.Official Space Battleship Yamato 2199 website character data Notes *His name resembles that of Serizawa Kamo, the first commander of the Shinsengumi special police force that operated briefly during the final years of the Shogunate in the mid-nineteenth century. *Serizawa's character is visually similar to the EDF Chief of Staff and his personality is similar to that of the EDF Staff Officer, from Farewell to Space Battleship Yamato, Space Battleship Yamato 2, and Space Battleship Yamato III. References Serizawa Kotetsu Category:Male Characters